Men&#039;s basketball routs Northern New Mexico

UMW News Bureau

The University of Montana Western men's basketball team took an early lead in the 3 p.m. game at the Westminster Tipoff Tournament and rolled on to easily defeat Northern New Mexico (NNM) 96-68 on Saturday, Nov. 5. By Lowell Peterson
The University of Montana Western men's basketball team took an early lead in the 3 p.m. game at the Westminster Tipoff Tournament and rolled on to easily defeat Northern New Mexico (NNM) 96-68 on Saturday, Nov. 5.
After Christian Camacho opened the scoring with a short jumper to put the Eagles on top, the Bulldogs scored the next eight points and would not trail again in the game. The run was sparked by two Tyler Hurley free throws, a Brandon Brown steal and layup and rebound tip-ins by Tyler Miller and Kyle Erickson. Northern New Mexico cut the lead to one, at 10-9, but it was the closest they would get in a game dominated by the Bulldogs. Montana Western led by 16 points with 3:09 to play before the Eagles went on a 9-4 run to end the first half with the Bulldogs on top 44-33.
The Bulldogs scored the first 15 points of the second half to take a 26-point lead, 59-33, at the 15:59 mark in the game. Cedric Clarington, scoring four points and dishing out four assists, had a hand in 12 of the 15 points during the run. With just under 11 minutes to play Montana Western built the lead to a game-high 33 points, 77-44, on a short jump shot by Clarington.
The Bulldogs had six players score in double figures. Brown scored 19 points, grabbed six rebounds and had six steals. Three of the steals led to thunderous dunks. Erickson scored 16 points and hauled in eight rebounds. Clarington scored 13 and had five assists. Hurley, Miller and Jordan Overstreet each scored 10 points. Miller also had a game-high 10 rebounds to record a double-double. Bridger Chambers just missed double figures, scoring nine points, and Jacob Proctor added seven. Camacho led the Eagles with 12 points and Eric Bouma came off the bench to score 11. Daniel Molina grabbed seven rebounds to lead Northern New Mexico.
In spite of the victory margin and 96 points the Bulldogs shot poorly from outside the three point line, making only 3-of-21. Take away the three point shots and Montana Western went 35-of-52 from the field (.673) and was tough inside, scoring 58 points in the paint.
Montana Western improved to 5-1 on the season and Northern New Mexico remained winless at 0-6. The Bulldogs travel to Billings to play in the Rocky Mountain Tournament on Nov. 11 and 12. On Friday, the Bulldogs play third-ranked Robert Morris University and on Saturday they face off against Evergreen State. Both games will be played at 5:30 p.m. in the Fortin Center on the Rocky Mountain Campus.